The rewards and frustrations of home winemaking

Monthly archive: 08 2010

“Barrel” Tasting

My in-laws are visiting from Germany, and that seemed like a good reason to check the progress of all of the vintage 2009 wines in the shower.ย  I pulled 100 mL samples from various carboys for a taste. We started with the Fallbrook syrah. This wine already has great aromas with big fruit and good […]

Harvest Not So Late After All

Just got an update from Live Oak Vineyard on the syrah progress, it’s up to 22 brix already. Harvest should be in about a week, which is actually the same time as last year.ย  So, even though the weather this year has been very strange and is definitely affecting harvest around California, looks like we’re […]

Cold Summer Means Later Harvest for 2010

This “summer” has been unusually cold.ย  Record-setting coolest high temperatures cold.ย  Temperatures were below 70 degrees F on the coast, and mid-70’s inland throughout July.ย  This weird weather is delaying ripening of the grapes, so harvest will be a little later this year, barring another heat wave like last year. Mike Hoffman just sent me […]

Getting Ready for Syrah Harvest

I got an email today from Mike Hoffman that the syrah started veraison and harvest should be around the first week of September.ย  Hopefully there won’t be a last-minute heat wave like last year, which raisined a lot of the grapes before we could pick them for wine. I’ll need to start thinking about what […]

Brunello 2-year Tasting

I’ve been excited about trying out this Limited Edition wine again, hopefully it’s almost ready.ย  I decanted very briefly before first taste; it’s still very foamy.ย  Not much “soapiness” on the nose, mostly light, bright fruits with hint of spice. Very clear garnet in color.ย  Good oak on the tongue giving slightly buttery mouthfeel, with […]